Speed awareness

I got nicked by the Norfolk & Suffolk
ConstabularyAn apparently joint constabulary irrespective
of what Wikipedia says.
somewhere along the
ring road around Norwich. Truth be told, there was no officer
involved, only a speed camera. And it clocked me doing 35 in a 30, as
I confessed
before.

The summons that arrived, when it arrived, having traveled by way of
the car rental company and then across an ocean, was a very serious
and threatening sounding document. To be fair, it was at least clearly
worded and easy to understand. It is obvious that a lot of time and energy
has gone into making that document, if not as concise as possible, at least
as clearly defensible in court as possible: each section includes
the explicit admonition “if you’re doing this section, do not do that other
section over there” and warnings like “if you do this, it cannot be undone”, etc.

All in all, three options were presented:

Take a “speed awareness” course (for about £95)

Accept a fixed penalty of £100 and three points on my license

Request a court hearing.

Given the distance and all, a court hearing wasn’t really an option.
Besides which, I’m not sure if arguments about stress over my mother’s
then quite ill healthShe’s better now, thanks for asking.,
lack of familiarity with the roads, relative
inexperience driving on the left, etc. really constitute an excuse for
speeding.

I was prepared to pay the fine and let them try to convince Texas to
put points on my license for the infraction, when I discovered
that I could quite easily sign up for a a speed awareness course that
conincided with my next trip to the UK.

On some level, it’s a bit strange that you can go to another country,
plonk down your foreign driver’s license, and be handed the keys to
car. I’ve never received any instruction in UK driving or driving
laws. That first bleary morning, years ago, trying to pull out of
Heathrow to drive on the left with only a couple of hours sleep
was…harrowing. It bothers me less now.

Nevertheless, I decided that it would be interesting to do the course
instead of paying the fine. I figured I’d almost certainly learn
something.

And that’s how I came to spend four hours on a random Tuesday afternoon in
the conference room of a slightly shabby hotel on the outskirts of
town with about twenty reluctant participants.

I won’t attempt a blow-by-blow recap of the course, but it was very
well done. Between them, the two instructors covered the ground you’d
expect. There was a bit of physics and biology: stopping distances,
reaction times, that sort of thing. There were discussions of various
road conditions, pedestrians, cyclists, extra care to be taken when
towing loads, in trucks or vans (the rules are different!), etc.

It was entirely effective in as much as I’m now driving more
carefully, more mindfully, and…more slowly. I don’t actually think
you’d get stopped in the US for going five miles an hour over the
limit, but it’s not really worth the risk, is it?

Years ago, when I had to commute from western Massachusetts to Boston
once a week, I did some experiments and discovered, to my surprise,
that the difference between taking it easy and riding along at about
the speed limit and “pushing it” a bit, over the course of a 100 miles,
is well under 10 minutes. It was good to be reminded of that.

In closing, a couple of fun facts about driving in the United Kingdom.

A speed limit sign in a red circle is compulsory. If it’s in a
black circle, or painted on the road (in white paint), it’s
advisory. Advisory only, but if you get into an accident going
faster than the advised limit, it’s unlikely to work in your
favor.

And my favorite: absent other signs, on a single
carriagewayA road without a
“central reservation”, a physical obstruction between the lanes
such as a curbed median, a grassy median, or barricades. (Paint
doesn’t count.),
the speed limit is 30mph if there are (three or more) street lights!
Without street lights, it’s 60mph, I believe.
I am not making that up.

It’s not the sort of rule you’d guess, but it makes sense once you’ve
been told (in Massachusetts, you have to be told that a “Thickly Settled” sign
means 30mph, too). In the UK street lights, are highly correlated with greater
population density, with towns and villages. Slow down.

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